Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“I realize we’re desperate for a break, but are we sure we can trust Bucky’s findings?”
Zain glanced over at Bodie as the man paced his office, staring at the photos Greer had snapped of Bucky’s intel before the RV had gone off the ledge.
A freaking Hail Mary. Zain wasn’t sure how she’d pulled it off — collected all the data while the vehicle had bounced down the dirt road like a damn pinball, but he’d take the win.
Greer crossed her arms. “Do you know how hard it was to take those photos without them looking like a wanna-be Bigfoot sighting? Buck might spend half his day yelling at shadows, but he’s thorough.”
“I’m not questioning the sheer quantity of intel, it’s just…” Bodie sighed. “He swore on his mother’s grave they’re pulling out pieces of a mother ship. And he wasn’t referring to the kind Saylor and Mac used to hunt.”
Zain chuckled. “Buck’s a bit south of normal, as Jordan likes to phrase it. But that’s definitely the Nexus . And Saylor swears that’s Watson.” He looked over at Saylor, smiled. “In fact, I bet my ass they found the Vigilant .”
Bodie’s gaze snapped to Saylor’s. “I realize there isn’t much intel about that night. No concrete data that outlines exactly where it went down, but all accounts place the Vigilant a good fifty miles south.”
Saylor nodded. “I know. But it would explain why Mac found me so far off the search grid. Why they haven’t found a trace of the wreckage.”
“The depth of the water accounts for that.”
“If it went down beyond the shelf. But if they rigged the nav systems before it sank, they could have piloted her up the coast in the hopes no one would look for her that far off course.”
Bodie nodded. “You think whatever they’re retrieving is part of that classified research.”
Saylor raked her fingers through her hair. She’d taken it down, the long golden mass falling around her shoulders, practically begging Zain to touch it — fist it in his hands as he claimed her mouth. “Now would be a great time for one of those triggers to bring everything back.”
Zain walked over and nudged her shoulder. “Not if it means you’ll have to relive everything. You survived. That’s more than enough.”
Greer groaned. “Are they always this nauseating?”
Chase laughed, schooling his features when Zain flipped him off. “The only thing we really need to know is whether they got what they were looking for. If we’re already too late.”
Greer shook her head. “Why keep targeting Saylor if they’ve already won?”
“Because she’s still a loose end. The kind that could bite them in the ass if she ever remembers what happened on that ship.”
Saylor let her head tilt back. “Just another reason to jog these memories loose.”
Foster moved over to the board, staring at the images until Zain wondered if his buddy had fallen asleep on his feet.
Zain cleared her throat. “Foster? Brother, are you okay?”
Foster glanced over his shoulder for a moment, then turned back to the board. “What if we’re looking at this wrong?”
“How?”
“We’re assuming Watson and Vasquez are somehow linked to whatever happened on the Vigilant , right?”
Zain nodded. “Watson wasn’t on the ship that night, but the fact he should have been in command is too coincidental to overlook.”
“And we suspect they’ve been running some sort of crime ring for the past few years.”
“All those extra duty assignments Vasquez applied for.”
Foster tapped his chin. “So, why did they sink the Vigilant? It seems counterintuitive. Even if they were able to pilot the ship closer to shore, they were in the middle of a freaking category one cyclone. While not the deadliest type of storm, it definitely would have affected how the debris field spread out. If Buck’s timeline’s correct, it explains why they’ve spent the past month running grid patterns trying to locate the wreckage.
If this item’s so important, why didn’t they just steal it?
They could have still sunk the ship to eliminate witnesses if that was their plan.
Why risk losing their prize if they could have walked away with it that night? ”
Saylor inhaled. “Because it was inaccessible.”
Zain frowned. “Not to put a damper on the theory, but if they had inside help, they likely had access to every part of the ship.”
Saylor shook her head. “Not security access. Physical access. What if it wasn’t on the ship, but part of it?”
“Like a missile guidance array or something?”
Another raspy breath, some of the color draining from her face. “What if that sound I keep hearing inside my head wasn’t an explosion?”
Zain glanced at his teammates. “I’m not an expert, but a ship that big… An explosion explains why it sank fast enough to avoid detection. Why you might have memory loss. The noise, the concussive wave…”
She gasped, holding her breath until he thought he’d have to nudge her. “What did you say?”
He inched closer and grabbed her hand. “That an explosion explains some of the memory loss from the noise and the concussive shock wave.”
“Concussive…”
Zain lunged for her when she took a staggering step, hands flying to her head, a muted groan clawing free. She leaned over, elbows braced on her knees, looking as if she’d drop. He curled over her, pressing his chest against her just enough she knew he was there. That he had her back.
She wavered, her muscles shaking before she leaned fully into him, whimpering under her breath.
He eased them over to the small couch pressed against the far wall of Bodie’s office, lowering them both onto it before holding her close. He didn’t talk, just sat there, her head pressed into his shoulder, her breath wheezing wildly against his chest.
Chase had her wrist in his hand, shaking his head. “Saylor. If you can hear me, try to slow your breathing.”
Her chin quivered, but she shifted her hand — placed it over Zain’s heart. It took a few minutes, but the wheezing slowly faded, replaced by deeper, shuddering breaths.
Zain gave her a squeeze. “Easy.”
“Sonar.”
The word rasped free, as if she’d been fighting to hold it back.
Zain lifted her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “Sonar?”
She nodded, closing her eyes as she grimaced. “It’s all still fractured. Waves and lights. That damn tone going on and on and on. But it was some sort of sonar array, only it wasn’t an array. There was something on the hull…”
She cursed, banging her head with the heel of her other hand. “God, it’s so loud.”
“Shhh…” Zain looked at Chase. “Chase, brother…”
Chase shifted closer. “Saylor, let it go. ”
“No.” She sat up, nearly catching Zain in the jaw. “It’s all there, just out of reach because of that sound…”
“You’ve remembered enough. It’s all we need.”
She blinked, a few tears slipping free before she closed her eyes — leaned into Zain.
He rested his chin on her head, accepting the coffee Kash handed him. “Drink.”
Saylor took a few more shuddering breaths, then grabbed the cup, nearly shaking it all over the floor before she managed a few sips. Her breathing slowed, the shivers finally easing.
Zain sighed. “I know. Flashbacks are a bitch.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong. They’ve never been this bad. Never…”
“Saylor.” Chase waited until she focused on him. “In the past few days, you’ve had multiple attempts on your life. Had to board a ghost ship reminiscent of the Vigilant . And have had to face the real possibility that you were sent to that ship to die. You might want to cut yourself some slack.”
“I just need to remember.”
“That wall’s already cracked. It’s only a matter of time before it completely shatters. Until then, don’t push it.” Chase grinned as he nodded at Kash. “Or you might end up a drooling, social mess like Kash.”
“Really funny, Chase.” Kash glanced at Greer, then back to them. “At least I grew a set.”
Chase flipped him off, taking Saylor’s pulse one last time. “Remember, don’t force it.”
“Drooling mess.” She smiled weakly. “I got it.”
Zain offered her the coffee, again, ready to catch it if it slipped free. But the worst of the tremors had passed. “You, okay?”
She huffed, cringing when it came out rougher than usual. “I haven’t been this messed up since I woke in the hospital and Mac told me everyone was dead.”
“We don’t get to decide when those ghosts choose to haunt us. And you gave us the missing piece.”
“Did I? Because I’m not sure they’d kill an entire crew over new sonar tech.”
“Look what it did to you.” Chase handed her a granola bar, waited until she took a bite.
“It explains why you can’t remember that night.
Regular sonar broadcast at unsafe levels can cause headaches, nausea, confusion.
If Vasquez managed to weaponize it…” He whistled.
“Overlooking how deadly it could be to anyone in the water — to submarines and divers — it has the potential to cause massive internal issues. Result in pockets of missed time. In the wrong hands, a pirate crew could completely incapacitate a Naval ship. Make it ridiculously easy to acquire weapons. And no one would know it was a threat until it was too late.”
She let her head fall against Zain’s shoulder. “It was easier when I just thought I was crazy.”
Zain kissed her temple. “Pretty sure that’s still on the table, so…”
She smiled, but it quickly faded. “Good, then, you won’t be surprised when I say we need to go back to where Buck tracked the Nexus . Tonight.”
Zain stiffened, all those voices in his head suddenly rousing — reminding him how he’d nearly lost her multiple times on his watch. That if he pushed the limits too far, they’d end up biting him in the ass.
He swallowed, barely getting all the salvia down without choking. “While I understand you want to end this, we don’t even know if the Nexus is still in one piece, let alone venturing out tonight.”
Saylor clenched her jaw, then stood, crossing over to the board. “It’s definitely in one piece.”
“You said it yourself. They likely scuttled it to avoid detection.”
“That was before I knew it was Watson’s boat, and before we got our hands on Buck’s pictures. And this last photo he took this morning before he got the roll developed,” she tapped a foggy photo of a hint of a ship amidst the gray, “is the Nexus .”
Zain joined her at the board, squinting in an effort to see what she did.
Kash moved in beside him, giving Zain an arch of his brow before focusing on Saylor. “At the risk of not only sounding like an ass but having you hand me, mine, all I see is a shadow. How can you be sure that’s the Nexus .”
She gave the photo another scan, then sighed.
“All you guys can tell what kind of weapon a tango has just by hearing the report. You know a threat the second they walk through the door. And Foster can tell you what kind of helicopter is overhead simply by the sound.” She glanced at the photo, again.
“I spent fifteen years searching for ships in the rain and the fog. Hunting camouflaged drug boats in the dead of night by the hum of their engines. Learned how to pick out a speck of color in a sea of waves when there were people in the water.”
She drew her finger along the shaded silhouette, tracing the outline. “And I know, without a doubt, this is the Nexus . The shape of the bow, the shadow of the crane… It might look like just a blob, but I see it.”
Kash chuckled. “Point noted. But if Buck saw it this morning, how do we know it didn’t bugger off, already?”
“I don’t think Buck recognized the ship, either, but he marked down its location.
And this inlet…” She circled the narrow point on Buck’s map.
“Has a giant-ass shoal that only allows a ship that size to come and go during high tide. The Coast Guard’s been lingering since that first night, and Watson’s not stupid enough to try and sneak past a cutter with his phony registration.
But tonight’s shaping up to be one hell of a storm.
The Coast Guard’ll head for home so they’re ready if they get a call.
And Watson knows he’s out of time. Either he needs to recover any remaining pieces or move his prize.
Either way, I guarantee he’ll be somewhere along that route. ”
Zain studied the maps, glancing at the weather report before gazing at his buddies. Stoic, with lethal determination shadowing their faces, he knew they’d back up whatever plan he and Saylor agreed to. That they’d gladly risk their lives if it meant ending the threat.
Which was part of the problem.
It should be his risk. His duty .
But he’d never pull this off and walk away without backup.
Instead, he met Saylor’s expectant gaze. “I’m not questioning your logic or your ability to get us there, it’s just… damn, sweetheart. You already survived this kind of event once. Twice might be pushing it.”
“If it means those assholes might pay? It’s worth any risk.” She sighed. “I realize we could go out there and come up empty handed. But if there’s even a sliver of a chance we can end this — secure the sonar weapon and finally get justice for everyone who became collateral damage that night…”
“And if we do find them? You got shot last time. I don’t like putting you in that position, again.”
“I won’t be, because I have something I didn’t before.” She slipped her hand over his and squeezed. “All of you backing me up. No way I can fail, this time.”
“You didn’t fail before.” Zain looked over at his teammates. “Foster? Think you’ll be able to fly in this shit in case we end up in the water?”
Foster coughed, pounding on his chest a few times in mock indignation. “After all these years, are you still questioning my skill set? That’s just cold, brother.”
Zain rolled his eyes. “I’m glad you’re not overly dramatic about the whole thing. Kash? Chase?”
They groaned in unison.
“I’ll come with you.” Chase pointed at Kash. “Jackass can go in the chopper with whoever else wants to get in on the fun.”
Kash scoffed. “You know the rules. You stay safe in case one of us goes down. ”
“With how Zain and Saylor seem to get themselves into trouble, that’s a given.” Chase cut Kash off. “Not this time.”
Greer stepped in beside Chase. “Guess it’ll be a party for four on that Zodiac, because if we’re going to keep this all above board, I’m coming.”
Saylor winced. “Are you sure? It’s going to be ugly. Between the swells and the breakers… Rough doesn’t begin to describe it.”
“Ugly or not, I’m coming.”
“Then, let’s map this out. It’s about time I brought the whole damn thing full circle.”